whole fish baked in sea salt

was something I wanted to try for quite a while, but being intimidated by the "whole fish" part I always kept putting it off for some other, more convenient time. The truth is, that since these days all of our food comes neatly packaged, already sliced, filleted or ground, it seems a bit overwhelming to choose right kind of fish, clean it and gut it. So, after weeks of window shopping, I've finally decided to give it a try. I bought beautiful tai snapper and since I've never done it, I(cowardly) asked the fishmonger to gut it and clean it for me. I stuffed it with kumquats, herbs and garlic and baked it enveloped in a thick layer of sea salt. It turned out to be the best fish I've ever eaten...delicate, juicy and very aromatic. As the fish bakes, layer of salt turns into thick crust, entrapping the whole moisture, herbs and citrus aromas inside. Simple, healthy and so....so delicious!!! Where is the final photo??? Well.....make the fish and you'll find out why it's missing...

shopping list
*whole fish about 2lb, I used New Zealand  Tai Snapper, ask the fishmonger to remove the gills and gut it for you, the scales and head left on
*sea salt, you can use kosher salt if your prefer,
*2 sprigs of rosemary, few sprigs of thyme,
*chives, 2 bay leaves,
*2 garlic cloves, smashed
*4 kumquats sliced,
*black pepper, coarsely ground,
*spray bottle with water,
*parchment paper, kitchen twine

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2.On the baking sheet spread parchment paper big enough to wrap around the fish. Spread a thick layer of salt, spray with water to form a crust, place cleaned fish on top.
3.Place the herbs, kumquats, garlic and black pepper in the belly cavity of the fish.

4.Make another layer of salt on top, leaving head and tail exposed, spray with water.

5.Wrap with parchment paper and secure it with kitchen twine. Bake for about 25 min on the middle rack of the oven.

to serve

Remove the fish from the oven, unwrap it and gently crack off the layer of salt, the skin should come off with it.If it doesn't, you might want to use a sharp knife to gently lift it off. Divide among two or four plates, drizzle with olive oil or sprinkle with freshly squeezed lemon juice(I didn't think it was necessary) and enjoy it!

It tastes great with roasted potatoes and paired with dry white wine, like sauvignon blanc.

Posted by M. at 9:54 PM 31 comments

spiced cornmeal biscotti

Can you remember your first impression of biscotti???  Mine wasn't exactly 'love from the first bite'. Good friend of mine, who also happens to be an amazingly creative baker invited me over for coffee and asked me to be a taste tester for her newly discovered cookie recipe, she could not stop raving about. Girlie talk, coffee while munching on cookies??? Of course I would do it, no need to ask me twice! As soon as I arrived into her house, I knew it was going to be something special and something different.....all that excitement in her eyes!

So I carefully examined interestingly looking cookie....mmmm...loaded with pistachios, dried fruit and lemon zest....weird texture though...but.....not wanting to hurt her feelings.....I took a bite......
WOW!!! THESE COOKIES ARE WAAAAY PAST THEIR EXPIRATION DATE!!!!!  I said to my friend.....
While with tears in her eyes she chuckled at first, soon got struck with uncontrollable laughter..... I on the other hand....kept riding my tongue over  front teeth, making sure they didn't chip....As soon as she was able to calm down, she explained that biscotti is baked twice to achieve this hard and crunchy texture, and it's meant to be enjoyed with hot coffee, tea or sweet wine. So to make a long story short, as soon as I dunked it in a cup of coffee, the hard cookie simply stole my heart!
The inspiration for cornmeal biscotti came to me from Ashley of Small Measures blog, you can see her dried fig and pistachio version here, I made mine with bittersweet chocolate, pecans, crystallized ginger and spices. Enjoy and for the sake of your teeth make some coffee or tea! 

shopping list

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/4 c. yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

6 Tbsp. butter, softened

3/4 c. sugar or 1/2 c sugar and 1/4 c honey

2 large eggs

1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/4tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cardamon

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips(I used Michel Cluizel 72% cocoa, amazing!), tossed with some flour

1 c. pecans, chopped
1/4c crystallized ginger, finely chopped

directions

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

-Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

-Add butter to mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth.

-Add sugar and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

-Scrape down sides of mixer, add eggs one at a time, and beat until well incorporated.

-Reduce mixer speed to low; add flour mixture until just incorporated.

-Remove bowl from mixer; stir in chocolate drops , chopped ginger and pecans until well-incorporated. 

-Using a spatula, scrape dough out onto parchment-lined baking sheet in a log shape. You want it to be roughly 3 1/2 inches wide by 14 inches long. Use spatula or your hands to pat it into shape. 

-Bake 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned.

-Remove from oven, place baking pan on a wire cooling rack, and allow to cool 15 minutes.

-Transfer biscotti log onto a cutting board (carefully; if it is too hot, the log will crack). 

-Using a serrated knife, cut the log into slices 1/2-inch thick. 

-Place slices back onto parchment-lined baking sheet and cook for 15-17 minutes rotating sheet half-way through, until the edges brown.

-Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Posted by M. at 2:29 PM 32 comments

creamy zucchini soup with basil

Are there any foods you hated growing up, only to rediscover them as an adult, wondering what were you thinking???
Mine was soup. I often argued, that according to my "scientific expertise", overcooked vegetables swimming in a pool of hot liquid didn't have any nutritional value( how did I ever come up with that???). Luckily for me, my mother being a wise woman, just wouldn't accept it. Soup had to be consumed if I wanted to get to  delicious main course... and I won't even mention beautiful dessert that usually followed. Uhh, tough life I guess...
Well....these days I have a stack of soup recipes so thick, I could make my own cookbook out of it.....and I have to admit, somehow.... it slowly turned into my favorite comfort food.

creamy zucchini soup with basil
* 1 pound zucchini, chopped
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1 large garlic clove, smashed and halved
* 1/3 c basil, chopped
* 2Tbsp olive oil
* 1/2 c dry white wine
* vegetable broth
* salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste, bay leaf
 directions:

 In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat saute the onion with olive oil until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add chopped zucchini, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf, cook for another 5 min, stirring occasionally. Add wine, cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Next add enough broth to barely cover the vegetables, about two cups, simmer partially covered until tender.  Purée soup  in 3 batches in a blender adding some of the chopped basil each time, add salt and black pepper to taste. Serve warm, garnished with grated lemon zest(optional).For more inspiration on how to cook zucchini, check out this lovely gratin recipe at Dash and Bella.

 enjoy!

Posted by M. at 10:07 AM 17 comments

Design Sponge and Orange Ricotta Breakfast Dumplings recipe

I think it was two or three years ago when I started drooling over  design sponge on a regular basis…every day to be exact….going through every page, from furniture and house renovations, to flower arrangements, to delicious recipes(of course!)… thinking how great it would be to join this company of amazingly creative people...one day. 

So you can only imagine how stunned I was, when Kristina Gill from “In the kitchen with” on the very one Design Sponge, asked me to pitch in some recipe ideas. It had to be something original and something that photographed well....so after going through vast collection of my favorite family recipes, I decided( or Kristina decided) to go with an updated version of ricotta dumplings my grandma used to make….delicious, easy, original for sure, but…..turned out to be…so…so not photogenic… 

While ingredients photographed well, the dumplings themselves, yummy but rather plain looking, were really challenging to style and photograph. I don’t even know where to begin to describe all the things that were going wrong but, I think the hardest one, was getting over the rejection of my first set of photos. The dried lavender I used to" beautify" the dish, did exactly opposite, it didn’t catch on light and ended up looking rather like dirt or fruit flies than appetizing lavender petals….so I had to  modify the recipe, find fresh lavender and redo all the photos. And as it turns out fresh lavender is not that easy to come by either...after running from one store to another, I finally desperately knocked some strangers' doors with scissors in my hands  and asked, if I could "borrow" a little lavender growing on their front porch. Luckily for me, they agreed.

In the end it was really fun experience, I enjoyed every minute of it, even scraping all this cheese and flour off my camera wasn't so bad either. Thank you Grace and Kristina for having me on your beautiful blog!

Please see the whole story and Orange Ricotta Dumplings recipe here, and tell me what you think???

Posted by M. at 11:21 PM 36 comments

almond cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote

Everybody loves a little afternoon indulgence, especially if it comes in a form of moist and flavorful almond cake, drizzled with  delicious strawberry-rhubarb compote. I have to admit, the cake was just a pretext...what I really wanted was the sweetness of juicy strawberries and the zesty taste of rhubarb make its way into a compote and just a little something to drizzle it on.....hence the cake. Both are really easy to prepare but I must warn you.....

Number of little things could go wrong with this recipe:

you can accidentally drink whole amaretto and end up making uwanted trip to the store,
you can eat all the toasted almonds before the cake is ready, only to find out there aren’t any stashed in your pantry, and make another, even more unwanted trip to the store, 

you can eat the whole cake  before the compote cooks or 

you can eat all the compote before the cake is baked...so, be sure to plan ahead.

This beautiful recipe was created by famous French Laundry chef Thomas Keller (via SK), 

shopping list:

for the compote:

1 pound strawberries, rinsed and hulled

1 pound rhubarb, trimmed

1 lemon

3/4 cup granulated sugar

for the almond cake:

butter and flour for the pan
7 ounces almond paste
1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

2 Tbsp honey

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons amaretto, plus additional for brushing

1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

pinch of salt

1/3 to 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup crème fraîche, whipped to soft peaks(optional)

Make the compote

1. Select about 4 ounces of the smallest strawberries and cut lengthwise into quarters. These will be added raw to the cooked compote; set aside.
2. Cut the remaining larger berries in halves or quarters so that the pieces are about the same size. (You should have about 2 1/2 cups.) Place them in a medium saucepan.
3. With a paring knife, pull away and discard the strings that run the length of the rhubarb stalks. Cut the stalks into 3/4-inch pieces (you should have about 3 cups) and add to the saucepan.
4. Use a fine grater or a Microplane to zest the lemon. Add 1 teaspoon of the zest to the pan. Squeeze 1 tablespoon of juice and add it to the pan. Add the sugar and stir to coat the fruit.
5.Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. By the time the sugar has dissolved, the fruit will have released a lot of juice. Boil for about 4 minutes to reduce the liquid somewhat, then reduce the heat and simmer for another 2 minutes, or until the rhubarb is soft.
6. Take pan off the stove and stir in reserved strawberries. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate in a covered container until cold. (This makes about 4 cups of compote, but the extra will keep for a couple of weeks and is delicious for breakfast)

Make the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan, line its bottom with a circle of parchment paper;

2. Place the almond paste and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in another large bowl if using a handheld mixer. Begin to cream the mixture on low speed to break up the almond paste, then increase the speed to medium for about 2 minutes, or until the paste is broken into fine particles.

3. Add the butter and mix for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture is light in color and airy; stop the machine and scrape down the sides as necessary. It is important to mix long enough or the cake will have a dense texture.

4. Mix in the honey, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the amaretto, flour, and a pinch of salt and mix just to combine.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the cakes for about 25 minutes, or until the cake is golden and springs back when pressed. Transfer to a rack to cool.

  6. Unmold and invert the cake onto the rack, remove the parchment paper, and invert the cake again so that the top is once again facing upward. Brush the top of the cake with amaretto and sprinkle with the toasted almonds. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cake can be stored, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days. Serve cut into wedges, with a dollop of whipped crème fraîche and the strawberry-rhubarb compote.

Serve cut into wedges, with a dollop of whipped crème fraîche and the strawberry-rhubarb compote.

 

indulge and enjoy!!!

Posted by M. at 11:32 AM 24 comments